Statistical Learning Contributions to Semantic Knowledge Development

Robert Powers, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

Abstract

The organization of semantic knowledge according to relations
between concepts influences many facets of higher cognition. Therefore,
understanding the origins of relations knowledge is a key focus of cognitive
development research. This study investigated the contributions of environmental
statistical regularities to relations knowledge in preschool-age children. Using
CHILDES to estimate co-occurrence between familiar items, we constructed triads
consisting of a target, related distractor, and unrelated distractor in which
targets and related distractors consistently co-occurred (e.g., sock-foot),
belonged to the same taxonomic category (e.g., sock-coat), or both (e.g.,
sock-shoe). Using a Visual World paradigm, we then measured relations knowledge
as the degree to which children looked at related versus unrelated distractors
when asked to look for targets. The results revealed that co-occurrence,
regardless of taxonomic relatedness, influenced whether participants looked
significantly more at related versus unrelated distractors. These findings
demonstrate that co-occurrence regularities between entities in the environment
shape knowledge organization.